I've said all along that the "healthcare" debate was started by corporate owned politicians for the benefit of the insurance industry. In my working life I've always had insurance provided by employers. They got a tax break for providing it. I never once in my life said anything like "we've got to elect people who care about our healthcare". I know there are people who have struggled with the cost of health care, and were in favor of universal health care, but they never really had a voice. I'm just saying that this was not a political movement that started in the grassroots. This was astroturf, using the working poor as pawns.

In the final democratic debates hosted by UT Austin, televised on Public TV, Hillary and Obama argued over the whole mandatory insurance concept. Hillary claimed it as her idea. Obama declared it a bad idea, saying "people are not without insurance because they don't want it. They can't afford it". He got raging applause. It was political theatre.

That was before the primaries were over, before Obama backpedaled on just about everything he ever said in order to gain the candidacy. It has been about government by corporations all along, and it isn't over yet. The next thing is the repeal of tax breaks to employers who provide insurance to workers, and the taxing of employer provided insurance as income, all to the purpose of ending group rates and making people subject to the mandatory purchase at whatever rates insurance companies want to charge, and there they'll be, as the years go by, invading your privacy, testing you genetically, taking your hair samples, shit samples, food diaries and whatever else they can use to make you pay through the nose.

I agree. Insurance companies have no place in the healthcare equation.

==So, would someone, anyone, please tell me what value the private health insurance industry brings to the U.S. healthcare system?==

The power to kill.

Wendell Potter would not say that, out loud, although he came damn close in discussion with Amy Goodman with regard to the movie SICKO by Michael Moore. In effect there was a contract on him not long after the opening of the movie - which I went down to see in Flint, MI.

I am a dual citizen and lived 30 years under Canadian health care. I've been involved with HC reform on both sides of the border, participated in forums, reviewed new books. No system of universal health care came into existence in any modern democracy under the condition of a one percent power ELITE police state, with nearly complete political power to destroy.

You live in a Police State, Donna. You live in open class warfare. Potter is correct - its TOO LATE.

We needed universal health care under the Presidencies of Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter. President Ronald Reagan is the Oven President, who decided poor people are poor because they have defects both of character and life style, and expect their more wealthy neighbors to sustain them, like a carbuncle on the national ass. And religion backed that up with perverted theology.

There is now believed to be some association between wealth and human worth that has the imprimatur of GOD, some American neo-divine right of Kings. The health care insurance industry is solidly embedded in the One Percent Solution. Its power to kill is demonstrated by govt sending troops with severe PTSD back to wars of hegemony.

Bedtime for Bonzo has morphed into the End Times, and the detection of this is as clear to a-theists as it is to religious fundies. And as I have opined elsewhere, it is being driven by parts of the Human genome.
Trylon

Dream on. Things like that happen only in FREE countries - not fascist dictatorships (with revolving dictators, no less) - and it will NEVER happen in the US because Americans are unable to kick the sport/TV/instant-gratification habits. They don't think about healthcare because the working classes simply don't think much at all - they are NEVER going to change. They will steal from their neighbors long before they will rock the boat and get rid of their criminal fascist government and replace it with a FUNCTIONING republic. In fact, they'd rather KILL their neighbor and steal their property than fight for freedom - they are all cowards at heart.

Health insurance is the middle man siphoning billions of dollars. It does not provide care, not even a band aid. It basically administers paperwork and tries to make as much profit as possible. In fact, not only is it unnecessary, it is a detriment to your health.
They call the shots. When Doctors want to keep you in the hospital they have to get "permission' from the insurer.Thousands of patients a day go home too early. That is why we have such a high readmission rate.People falsely believe their Doctor is in charge, but anyone in health care knows that is ancient history.
So to recap Insurance is comnpletely unnecessary
Its one goal is to siphon as much money as possible out of ther system
It calls the shots, not your Doctor
It decides what it will pay for (rations)
Frankly, you pay for something that can kill you....what a bargain!
Medicare for all ASAP

The answer is simple. They add NEGATIVE value to health care by diverting your money into their own pockets and away from those who actually provide the care.

I think it's called neo-capitalism and seems to be the basis for a lot of highly profitable "free enterprise" ventures these days, along with the "efficient" privatization of public utilities and infrastructures.

What did Joe Sestak, a "progressive" Senatorial candidate in PA say about health insurance vs. Single Payer health care. He said to me, "I trust in the private market to make the most efficient use and distribution of resources," and then of course he cut me off before I could ask a follow up question. Take this as simply a political statement however, What Joe meant was to say , "See, even if I want to extend health care via a public option, I don't really believe government can function more effectively in the public interest than corporations can when pursuing their own private interests, Gee I wonder why Joe didn't win-- he still got tarred as a big spending liberal by Toomey and he still lost.

I read that in ancient China, a doctor didn't get paid if the patient got worse. If the patient died, the doctor had to hang some kind of a lantern out in front to show that he had a "mistake."

It's kind of quaint, but I think this is a very workable idea. Of course we wouldn't need those insurance companies for anything. We would just take life as it comes, which nearly everyone on the planet is doing already.

in the spirit of name-naming the criminals against humanity, here is my story.

for years, i had a TUFTS insurance plan that was $1700.00 / month for three healthy member family, mandated by the "good dems" in massachusetts, a state that is wholy owned by the medical mafia, pharmas, and the insurance thieves.

in january, i had an annual physical, after skipping 3-4 years. given the gap and my age, my doctor strongly recommended 4-5 tests,including colonoscopy. later, i got $600.00 bill from the specialist for removing a few polyps during the examination. TUFTS argued my policy didn't cover that "day surgery". my doctor and every doctor i consulted said they have NEVER heard of any insurance policy that does not cover colonoscopy and polyp removals.

one day TUFTS rep called me and volunteered to file an appeal on my behalf, and got my verbal statement. naively i thought they were being nice (ha!). later, TUFTS sent me the final rejection letter, and the reason was that i took all those tests though i was neither sick nor showing any symptoms, costing them pretty dollars.

i told them they would see not one more red penny from me, and dropped the expensive and useless TUFTS policy for the cheapest local plan. they turned the bill to acollection agency, and i told them to drop dead. if they take me to court, i will fight them in court, and make it cost them a whole lot more than $600.00.

Jerry Brown just got elected as Gov of CA. About 4 years ago, the Dem legislative majority in CA sent Gov. Schwarzenneger a single payer bill, AB 840, authored by Sheila Kuehl. They had a big majority but not enough to overcome Szchwarzennegger's utterly predictable, pay-to-play veto.

Now we have Brown. Could we get single payer in CA and make it work? Don't know if Donna Smith or the CNA reads the feedback here, but I wonder if CNA is thinking about this?

Full well knowing that insurance companies determine care why didn't our supposedly intelligent President go in front of the American sheeple and tell them that the true "death panels" are already in place, hiding behind misleading terms like "health care"? Instead he let the T party types spread the disinformation that the government would form these panels to kill grandma.

I don't have much faith in the average intelligence of the average American but they do believe most anything if told often enough so had this terminology been used for good rather than evil we would have universal, government health care on the way. Now with this new corporate giveaway written into law there is no hope for change anytime soon.

Perhaps this is just one more reason BO has lost his base.

Private insurance companies are the ones with death panels as they decide what claims to pay or deny. Right now, they take out billions of dollars from the health care system and pocket it into their cash accounts. That's money that could be spent on health care. And it doesn't stop there. The hospital systems that charge $100 for an aspirin, false charges on your bill (ran into morphine once that was never used), and other fraud schemes. Being in the computer industry, the medical industry has been famous over the years for being one of the most technologically behind of all industries. Why? While care is jeopardized, the money is stolen, yes stolen, to fund the top execs' bonuses. Private insurance could work with rules (like other countries). The health providers could work if rules were enacted and enforced to prevent fraud. And all of those premiums that we fork over in our paychecks - Medicare, private insurance - could probably be halved and provide health care for everyone.

Insurance is nothing but legalized extortion. We have government to cover those items that cannot easily be managed by individuals or small communities - there is NO VALID REASON to EVER have legalized extortion !!! Humans form government to provide for the 'common good' - the welfare of society - the necessities of life should NEVER be 'privatized' and extortion should NEVER be legal.

I'm all for private healthcare - doctors, nurses, hospitals, etc, - but not legal extortion !!! A clinic is a private domain - there is nothing 'government' about them - and they should be able to compete for customers - there is no need for an extortion-agency middleman to get between any of us and our medical care. It can all be paid just like Medicare and/or Medicaid - through taxes - but NOT ONE PENNY FOR EXTORTIONISTS !!! Insurance companies - of any kind - should be illegal !!!

Give me your money or you die - should that be legal??? That's EXACTLY what 'insurance companies' do. The same goes for 'auto insurance' - would we really need it if we didn't have to pay someone else's medical bills? Could any 'insurance company' make a profit without cheating - or intimidating - anyone? Shouldn't all of society be responsible for itself? Isn't that what 'government' really is - to provide for the safety and security of everyone in society? What we have now is a fully dysfunctional society - it is unsustainable and unfeasonable - that's why we can 'fix' the problem - the problem is a criminal agency writing laws to make extortion 'legal' - but the problems remain.

This is just so sad and pathetic. Is it going to take another 60 years to have actual universal health care or single payer, if ever? What the F is the matter with this country? We do have Medicare, Medicaid and the VA (true socialized medicine).
But no universal health care for you, the insurance nazis proclaim. In Florida, a health insurance fraudster and vampire is elected governor. Jeeebus! Rick Scott spent more than $70 million of his own fortune to help win election in the
most expensive governor's race in Florida history.
The corporate bastards want us to despair and give up in resignation. They want us to believe that they are all powerful. Just think of Bernie Sanders who is outnumbered and out funded but who never gives up and keeps fighting on against impossible odds. I guess we have to continue fighting in hopes that our grandchildren's grandchildren may have TRUE universal health care.

'Insurance-Care'

The American Way

"deep down everyone is a ferengi"(rule 284)......see: "ferengi rules of acquisicion"....peace

How sad indeed, that we can see what our elected leaders cannot. No doubt about it, there is not a single representative in Congress looking out for MY interests.

This article showed up on my FB page yesterday and it comes from Think Progress, but it links to an original article in Bloomberg yesterday. I don't know how many people this would surprise, but it's nice to see it affirmed in Black and White, the supreme con job. There is also a very good video and it shows some of the commercials that brainwashed the portion of the public that allows themselves to be brainwashed:

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/11/17/chamber-insurance-86-mil/

Warning: There is a pic of Karen Ignani on the front page and that may ignite unkind feelings, if you know what I mean.

The health care with the lowest costs are government programs like Medicare and the VA. They aren't a for-profit system, which makes the costs low.

Last time my wife tried to get an appointment with a specialist, she had to wait two months. She paid a ridiculous amount of money to wait for two months. She could have had the same care with a single-payer system, and may or may not have had to wait two months, but the COSTS would have been significantly lower.

And, guess what? Even if there were nationalized health care, you could BUY your own coverage and pay ridiculously HIGH prices!

This should have been about what was the BEST answer for the country as a whole. Instead, it was about what was best for the profits of the Insurance Industry. I want a doctor that is concerned with a patient's health first and foremost, not the bottom line of the insurance company.

"What Value Does Private Insurance Add to US Health?"

Absolutely None!!

They just sit in huge office buildings, collect money and skim 30-35% off the top before they deny coverage to policyholders.

We need Medicare for all.....

I can't help but wonder if medicare has been privatized. People are getting mail from private companies that say they think they can give Americans better medicare coverage for less than the government medicare offers them. I thought that it was an advertisement for additional private health care because government medicare does not cover everything. However I am now thinking it is private medicare companies competing with the government medicare program. Please tell me it isn't so. It is added stress for senior citizens to require them to study the different medicare plans and chose the one that is best for them. I can't imagine what value private medicare insurance can add to the U.S. health. It can only make it worse as senior citizens are taken advantage of by big profit making corporate health insurance companies.